Wow, I never heard about all this before. Every time I think I understand Japan perfectly, something like this surfaces. XD LOL.

The festival is said to celebrate the vanquishing of a demon that lived in a woman's vagina and would bite off the penises of her lovers! According to legend, a local craftsman fashioned a steel phallus which broke the demon's teeth.

LOL God, that must have been seriously painful for the woman during sex. I wonder how that "demon in the vagina" myth got started. LOL.

warning... it's only the western world that has a hangup in regards to sexuality, fertility, and procreation.

the lingam and yoni have been popular symbols of the supernatural in the non-western-christian-world since long before the christian-world even existed.

For the record, I find it odd that this would be the case, when theaters get burned down in India if two actors are seen on the screen kissing, and if couples are holding hands walking they will get accosted and yelled at by total strangers.

And I'm not even going to go into what would happen in the Islamic world if a couple were seen holding hands or kissing.

warning... it's only the western world that has a hangup in regards to sexuality, fertility, and procreation.

the lingam and yoni have been popular symbols of the supernatural in the non-western-christian-world since long before the christian-world even existed.

For the record, I find it odd that this would be the case, when theaters get burned down in India if two actors are seen on the screen kissing, and if couples are holding hands walking they will get accosted and yelled at by total strangers.

And I'm not even going to go into what would happen in the Islamic world if a couple were seen holding hands or kissing.

Yeah, it's the evil Christians who are pent up about sex. Sure.

i guess that should have been non-western/christian/islamic-world. in this sense, christianity and islam are the same religion, they are both branches of the religion of Abraham, a monotheistic sky god religion. and i guess i would have to throw judaism in there as well. so pretend it's way back when and throw all three of these together...

i don't know much about egyptian religion, but the greeks and romans and babylonians from what i can recall weren't that hung up about sexual stuff. and some of the earliest artifacts from the middle-east/mediterranean area earth-goddes icons with big boobs, pregnant bellies and exaggerated sexual organs... so, anyway, i just hold the opinion that there were no hangups before the rise of the monotheistic triad.

i don't know what's up with india nowadays, you would think that the tradition that gave us the Kama Sutra and Tantra along with lingam and yoni wouldn't be so hung up.

predictably, i blame it on muslim invasions and christian colonization. or maybe just a change in mainstream attitudes. hinduism always surprised me with its near infinite number of different sects and practices. maybe some of them are sexually repressed and just happen to be the sect of those in power.

anyway, it's more about the 'oddity' of seeing a giant penis in religious/traditional rites. i'm sure there are still plenty of temples in india where there's still a few giant lingams where people give offerings of milk. but i don't think you'll find a giant penis anywhere in a place of worship of the western monotheistic triad. i'm sure there are some exceptions somewhere...

Greeks........ At least the men nudity, that were portrayed on temples and such.. Not that much of the "sex" but the idea self-improvement, self-ideal goal. More to do with sport... For example.. We could see that their penises were not example big.. just kind of attached there.. for anatomical accuracy .. more a less

The Greek Women, on other hand, were not portrayed nude in early and middle ages of Greek history. They always appeared in cloth, completely covered, this especially applies to married women. In The High Ages, yes the Nudity of the Women become to appear in art there and there... but still not that much.

As for the idea about sexuality in general.. like homophilia, pedophilia.. I think was more free. In Greece.. and in Rome too. For example Julius Caesar and Augustus (when he was young)... Though it not 100% fact, but its tells that Pedophilia was accepted especially in upper layers of population.

Well...as for Roman, I think they were kind perverts thats for sure. Especially in later years when its government and culture became a bit more corrupted.

Last edited by Kdar on Sat 04.14.2007 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

zengargoyle wrote:
warning... it's only the western world that has a hangup in regards to sexuality, fertility, and procreation.

the lingam and yoni have been popular symbols of the supernatural in the non-western-christian-world since long before the christian-world even existed.

any sort of "OMG Private Parts!" oddity that you come across is a western/christian/catholic induced taboo. the "OMG penis!" thought that you have is a remnant of Roman Catholic "sex is evil" teaching.

Warning.... As a response to the above, this post contains a discussion that here in the U.S. we would consider to be adult content. But I figure anyone reading a thread about "Penis Festivals" has got to realize that reproductive anatomy is discussed in the thread.

Wait just one dad-blamed second. What about the very strict Japanese censorship laws? You aren't even allowed to show genitals, male or female. Unless things have changed, the Japanese are much stricter about this than here in the U.S. where you can show what you want as long as you put an appropriate rating on it.

I was reading a "Straight Dope" column which mentioned "Japanese tentacle porn." I went, "Huh? What the heck is that?" and looked it up. That was when I discovered the Japanese censorship standards. All the "action parts" were pixelated, and I learned the same standards apply to Japanese movies as well. You can show a woman's breast or the buttocks of either sex. You cannot show a man (or a monster's) mons pubis, penis or testicles. You cannot show a woman's mons veneris or vulva. Not even in pornography.

So how is that not a "hangup in regards to sexuality, fertility, and procreation."?

Last edited by lalaith on Mon 04.16.2007 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

bizarre pixelation is almost certainly post U.S./British Empire influence. i could show you a bunch of woodcuts with non-pixelated explicit depictions of XXX from before the time of western influence...

the current pixelation fetish is totally due to western influence post 1850 or so. don't even get me started.

Before that happens I'll just mention that tentacle sex is also (indirectly) the fault of the introduction of censorship laws. Depictions of the sexual act "insert tab A into slot B" were heavily censored but somebody had the bright idea that if 'tab A' is a tentacle instead of the traditional male organ it wouldn't be restricted in the same way. That's how the story goes anyway.

zengargoyle wrote:
bizarre pixelation is almost certainly post U.S./British Empire influence. i could show you a bunch of woodcuts with non-pixelated explicit depictions of XXX from before the time of western influence...

the current pixelation fetish is totally due to western influence post 1850 or so. don't even get me started.

It may be a modern hangup, but it's still a hangup. But, do "get started." It sounds like it would be very interesting.

zengargoyle wrote:
the current pixelation fetish is totally due to western influence post 1850 or so. don't even get me started.

I get to jump in with more random info I learned a long time ago that will now make me look super smart!

The pixelation is not a fetish, it is in fact a product of loose-/mis-interpretation of a Japanese censorship law.

A western equivalent can be found in Hollywood movies and TV shows from the 50's. Whenever a man and woman kissed, the woman always kicked one leg back (a common image from that time!). Most people thought it was just supposed to be an unconcious reaction to the passion of the moment, but it was actually done to be in compliance with a law that was being misinterpreted.

In order to allow kissing scenes, even those done while sitting on a bed, but censor kissing scenes with people in bed (i.e. too sexual), a rule/law stating that when kissing the woman must have one foot on the ground came into effect. The movie creators thought that meant ONLY one foot was allowed on the ground!

Similarily, after the west started influencing Japan, the Japanese became very selfconcious about the openness of their culture in the eyes of the decent westerners. Just like many other countries, they tried to tackle the problem of outlawing obscene pornography while allowing nude art. In an attempt to differentiate between art and porn, they created a law stating the nude body can be shown but actual genetalia can not.

So now, in order to comply with the law, people simply put a smudge over the genetalia and proceed as normal.

Last edited by keatonatron on Mon 04.16.2007 8:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

keatonatron wrote:
...
In an attempt to differentiate between art and porn, they created a law stating the nude body can be shown but actual genetalia can not.

So now, in order to comply with the law, people simply put a smudge over the genetalia and proceed as normal.

the way i heard it was that adult genitalia can not be shown, i.e. no pubic hair.
anyway, there's still Shin-chan and Goku and seemingly countless other times where some kid is running around buck naked with お象さま dangling in the wind.

bizarre pixelation is almost certainly post U.S./British Empire influence. i could show you a bunch of woodcuts with non-pixelated explicit depictions of XXX from before the time of western influence...

Yeah, and if you actually look into the history of shunga you'll find accounts of prosecution, destruction, and censorship by the government. The production and possession of shunga in Edo Japan was little different than the production and possession of porn in the 50s in the US.

Oh, and an interesting update from today's news:

Indian protesters burn effigies of Richard Gere after public kiss

NEW DELHI (AP) - Angry crowds in several Indian cities are burning effigies of Richard Gere.

It's happening after Gere swept a popular Bollywood actress into his arms and kissed her several times during an AIDS-awareness event. Photographs of Gere embracing Shilpa Shetty and kissing her on the cheek at an HIV/AIDS awareness event in New Delhi were splashed across front pages.

India is a country where sex and public displays of affection are largely taboo.

In Mumbai, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and set fire to glamourous shots of Shetty.